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Kitchen Organizing

My book, The Organized Kitchen has just been released and as it happens, January is National Get Organized Month. Here are a few tips to help get your kitchen organized for the new year!

Tackle one drawer, cupboard or shelf a day to make progress. Completely reorganizing your entire kitchen is an overwhelming task, but if you can find 5 minutes a day (while your pasta is cooking or your broccoli is steaming), you can get a lot done over a week.

Think about the activities that are happening in your kitchen. Most people use the kitchen as a multi-purpose room and homework, laundry, crafts, bill-paying, and more all take place in this one space. If you can shift some of these activities to other areas of the home, it will free up storage space (keep your scrapbooking supplies in a hall closet and move your household files to a box under your bed, for example) and make the kitchen feel less cluttered and over-used.

Too often when we organize we forget about comfort. The kitchen needs to be a room that is welcoming and warm, so although you are clearing your counters and shelves of clutter, don’t forget to keep some touches that express your personality and make the room comfortable.

Create zones. Store all baking equipment in the baking zone. All items for drinks such a blender and glassware should be together in one area. Cookware and cooking tools should be positioned near the stove. This way everything has a place it belongs which also makes it more convenient to use and reach for.

Find extra space by using metal standing shelves to add an additional layer inside cabinets. Bring in an unfinished book case and paint it to match your cabinets and give it the same pulls–it will look like additional built in cabinetry. Use the insides of cabinet doors for storage for spices, pot lids, a message board, plastic bags and more.

Look up for more storage. Install a shelf over the doorways of the room. Hang a three-tier basket from the ceiling. Put shelving around your soffits for tons more storage. If you have a separate pantry with a door, install storage above the door on the inside.

Get rid of your junk drawer. This is additional storage space you are losing out on. Everything in that drawer belongs somewhere else. Move it to where it belongs and suddenly you have an additional drawer.

With a little thought you can make your kitchen a place you love to cook in!